Even when certain groups get the spotlight or an exclusive series, there’s a certain otherness to it all.
When you watch Ivory Tower ― a CNN Films presentation that makes its worldwide TV premiere on CNN tonight at 9 and 11 p.m. EST ― the otherness seems to dissipate and you get a sense that the diverse students being profiled in the documentary that questions the value of a college education are truly America’s students.
The documentary ― produced by Emmy-nominated filmmakers Andrew Rossi and Kate Novack ― represents one of the most comprehensive portrayals of the nation’s higher education enterprise and its collective student body ― and the economic issues that both face in their symbiotic relationship ― that you’ll ever see.
That’s not to say that “Ivory Tower” necessarily breaks new ground. Anyone who regularly follows higher education news will see a series of familiar themes and stories: The skyrocketing of tuition and the declining state contributions to public higher education. College graduates being expelled into a rough job market with grim employment prospects and ridiculous amounts of student debt. The race among institutions of higher learning to have the biggest and the best facilities ― including pools, tanning facilities and the infamous climbing walls ― to attract more students. The lure of campus party life and the unfulfilled promise of MOOCs.
This documentary weaves all of these things together in a compelling and provocative visual way that makes contemporary issues in higher education a bit more interesting to follow than they might otherwise be.
A dominant story that essentially begins and ends the documentary is that of David Boone, a Harvard freshman who hails from one of the most economically distressed neighborhoods in Cleveland and who struggles to make it through Harvard’s introductory computer science course known as CS50.
